By PAUL LEWIS; PAUL LEWIS is chief of the United Nations bureau of The Times

LEAD: WHEN he first saw the remote waters of the Lake of Annecy high in the Savoy alps of what is now southeastern France, the l8th-century philosopher and writer Jean Jacques Rousseau exclaimed: ''Now I have been happy. Now I have lived.'' Some...

THE town of Annecy, on the French side of the Alps about 25 miles south of Geneva, is set on a translucent glacial lake. Surrounded by mountains, its air is pure and invigorating. Skiers come in winter, hikers in spring and summer. When not engaged...